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1 Changing families and sustainable societies: Policy contexts and diversity over the life course and across generations 27 (2015) Fathers on call A study on the sharing of care work among parents in Sweden. A mixed methods approach Marie Evertsson, Katarina Boye, and Jeylan Erman Copyright is held by the authors. A project funded by European Union's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no

2 Fathers on call A study on the sharing of care work among parents in Sweden. A mixed methods approach Marie Evertsson 1, Katarina Boye 2, and Jeylan Erman 3 Abstract: By combining quantitative analyses of survey data with qualitative analyses of interviews with first-time parents, this study gives new insights into parents division of parental leave in Sweden and the links between fathers leave length and the division of child care when both are back at work again. Quantitative results show that mothers and fathers parental leave lengths vary substantially with the reasons for division of leave and that fathers parental leave length is related to the long-term division of child care as well as to mothers satisfaction with it. Qualitative results suggest that although gender equality and equal parenting is central to the first-time, middle-class parents that were interviewed, more traditional norms and ideals about the mother as the primary caretaker may stand in the way of an equal sharing of the leave during the child s first year. The study also suggests several mechanisms through which fathers parental leave may causally influence later division of childcare, including a development of a closer relationship between the father and the child and a greater understanding between the parents. Keywords: Parenting, gender, child care, parental leave, division of work Affiliation: 1) Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Sweden 2) School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden 3) Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Sweden Acknowledgement: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ ) under grant agreement no for the research project FamiliesAndSocieties.

3 Contents 1. Introduction Theoretical background Earlier research on (assumed) causes and consequences of fathers involvement in care Research questions The Swedish parental leave insurance Data used in the study Results and findings: Parental leave length, reasons for the division of leave and satisfaction with how the leave was divided Parental leave length and the division of child care Couples who feel that equal sharing is important make it happen Traditional gender norms increase the difference in women s and men s parental leave length Work-related and economic factors How fathers parental leave may influence the sharing of care Discussion References Appendix

4 1. Introduction The transition to parenthood is a life changing event for those who experience it for many reasons. Suddenly, there is a new-born child that urgently calls for attention and the parents regular activities and priorities might have to be put on hold for this new creature to thrive. In this paper, we focus on heterosexual couples and although both the woman and the man in the couple no doubt are affected by the arrival of a child, earlier research and common knowledge tells us that the transition to parenthood is more life changing for mothers than for fathers. Traditionally, men have taken on a greater provider role as they become fathers and some seem to work more paid hours than they did before they had children, partly due to the need to provide for the new family member(s). Women, on the other hand, take leave from paid employment to care for the newborn child and they also often work part-time once the child starts day care. This unequal division of care for children has started to change as fathers parental leave taking in Sweden has increased. Still, men s parental leave uptake varies a lot, among other things by the couple s level of education. Higher educated couples are the most likely to share the parental leave equally (Social Insurance Report, 2013:8). Hence, although gender equality in the home has increased over time if we think about fathers parental leave uptake as indicating gender equality progress has been fairly slow and not evenly distributed in the population. This led the Swedish Social Democratic Party to suggest an increase in the number of parental leave months reserved for each parent (what are sometimes referred to as daddy and mommy months ) from two to three months in their statement of government policy in fall Although some no doubt salute such initiatives, others have been critical, claiming that it should be up to the parents to decide if and how to share the leave. In order to respond to such claims, it is important to gain an understanding of (i) factors that according to parents are the most vital for their decisions regarding how to share the parental leave, (ii) how these reasons link to the length of the leave, and (iii) the extent to which fathers parental leave length is related to their (later) relationship with the child and to their time spent with the child. In this paper, a mixed methods approach is applied to study the reasons that heterosexual couples provide for why they divided the leave as they did. We also study how happy the parents are with the division of leave and to what extent their satisfaction with the leave is related to how long a leave they took. In order to get an understanding of potential long-term 1 If these months are not used by the parent for whom they were reserved, they are forfeited. 2

5 consequences of fathers leave taking, we study the parents division of care for the child and the extent to which the mother is satisfied with the division of care, when both parents have started working again. Quantitative models are estimated based on data from the Swedish Young Adult Panel Study (YAPS). From the analyses, we get a hint of the extent to which shared leave taking is linked to smaller gender differences in (later) parenting and more similar fatherhood and motherhood practices. In semi-structured qualitative interviews with 40 first-time parents (20 couples), we qualify the quantitative results by analyzing how leave taking may be linked to fatherhood and motherhood practices later on in a group of middleclass parents. We analyze mechanisms and processes that led up to a particular division of parental leave and to perceived consequences of this leave in terms of sharing of care and responsibility, the child s relationship with the parents, the parents satisfaction with their division of work etc. The parents interviewed are on average more highly educated than the average Swedish couple and they have more egalitarian gender attitudes. These couples can be seen as the forerunners of change in a country that is considered to be one of the most gender-equal in the world. If the gender-egalitarian family can ever be realized, these couples are best positioned to do it. 2. Theoretical background The importance of parenthood for women s and men s work life and career interruptions has been and still is very different for three main reasons. The first has to do with biology and the fact that the woman is the one who carries the baby, gives birth and (if possible) breastfeeds it. Breastfeeding is normative and considered healthy, maternity care providers and midwifes strongly proscribe it and most women in Sweden try to breastfeed for the child s first six months. The second reason is economic in character and has to do with within-couple income differences and women s on average lower earnings. As the mother often is the one who earns the least in the family, the couple benefits financially from letting her take the main part of the parental leave and work part-time when the child is small. The third reason for the gender difference in consequences of becoming parents has to do with gendered expectations for mothers and fathers where mothers have been expected to be the main (and sometimes considered the best) carers of the child during its early years. The fathers main mission has traditionally been to ensure that the family is provided for, but in recent decades a more involved fatherhood ideal has emerged. The image of the new 3

6 fatherhood is to a great extent characterized by ideas of the engaged father, which includes a child-oriented masculinity (cf. Bekkengen 2002; Plantin 2001; Johansson and Klinth 2010; Roman and Peterson 2011). Today, fathers are expected to be emotionally and practically involved in child rearing to a far greater extent than previous generations have been (cf. Bekkengen 2002; Johansson and Klinth 2010). The new fatherhood implies engagement in the practical, everyday care of children to a similar extent as mothers though this engagement does not have to come with a larger focus on gender equality in other respects, for example, in the sharing of housework or breadwinning responsibilities (cf. Bekkengen 2002). Even though norms on the good father have changed quite a bit, mothering norms seem to have changed less. Today, many mothers work as many hours as men do in paid work but even when they do, mothers are still, and to a far greater extent than fathers, expected to be guided primarily by the ethics of the child s best (Hays 1996; Ribbens McCarthy et al. 2000). Recent changes in motherhood ideals have not been analysed to the same extent as fathering and the new fatherhood ideals. One exception, focusing on the Swedish context, is Elvin- Nowak and Thomsson (2001) who identified parallel, and contradictory, discourses about motherhood in their qualitative study from the 1990s. The discourses used described the idealized good, fulfilled mother who does everything for the child at the same time as she is engaged in a work career. This legitimized women s paid work, but at the same time led to a wish not to appear too work-oriented, something that resulted in feelings of guilt and bad conscience. Possibly related to this, Evertsson and Breen (2008; see also Evertsson 2013) found that the importance of work changed more for women, during the period when they became parents, than it did for men. The importance women place on work seems to increase again as children grow older and the temporary reduction most likely mirrors a response to the new demands raised on women as they become mothers and need to adjust to the child s needs (when caring responsibilities are not shared equally between the parents). Research by Salmela-Aro et al. (2001) indicates that women benefit from mentally adjusting to the changing demands raised on them when they become mothers. In the study by Salmela-Aro et al., mothers who prioritized family-oriented goals had a higher wellbeing than those who claimed to prioritize self-oriented goals. Not everyone is able to make such adjustments and research indicates that experiences of work-family conflict are slightly more common among women than men (Kotowska, Matysiak and Styrc 2010; Stier, Lewin-Epstein and Braun 2012). It is also more common that mothers multitask while doing housework and child care and this seems to contribute to mothers more often feeling burdened and stressed than fathers 4

7 do (Offer and Schneider 2011). Feelings of time pressure and work-family conflict influence mothers wellbeing and most likely also their health (Boye 2010; Bratberg and Naz, 2014; Leineweber et al. 2013). There are significant differences in the uptake of sickness benefits between mothers and fathers, but not between childless women and men (Angelov et al. 2011). Important reasons for the difference in days of sick leave between mothers and fathers seem to be women s (over time) increasing paid work hours and their remaining high responsibility for the home and children (Angelov et al. 2011; Bratberg and Naz, 2014, cf. Boye and Evertsson 2014). Hence, if fathers share of long-term care of the child increases, this should have important implications for mothers wellbeing and possibly also fathers Earlier research on (assumed) causes and consequences of fathers involvement in care Studies indicate that women s and men s parental leave taking is often perceived differently. As an example, working conditions that render it difficult to take parental leave or to plan it freely are seen as a hindrance to men s leave but only as an inconvenience for women s (Bekkengen 2002). Workers who do not fit the profile of an unencumbered worker, free from out-of-work obligations, tend to be disadvantaged in the workplace (Acker 1990; Glass 1999; Glauber 2008). The perception of woman as primarily bound to domestic duties may lead to statistical discrimination of women and it also means that men who take parental leave not only break norms related to the unencumbered worker but also to some extent traditional masculinity norms. Reaffirming gendered practices, it is more common that parents state that the father s rather than the mother s work situation determined the division of leave (Socialförsäkringsboken 2003; see also Bygren and Duvander 2006). The most frequent answer to why parents decided to divide the leave as they did is the family economy according to the National Social Insurance Agency s survey Time and Money 2003 (Socialförsäkringsboken 2003). 2 In the debate, women s desire to stay home for the main part of the leave has often been referred to as something that keeps men from taking longer leaves. Interestingly enough, it is much less common for fathers than mothers to claim that the mothers wish to stay home for the majority of the leave determined how leave was divided (27 percent of the mothers and 14 percent of the fathers claimed that this was the most important reason for how leave was divided) (Socialförsäkringsboken 2003). In sum, cultural and gendered assumptions about parenting as well as expected wage and income penalties 2 About one fourth of the parents claimed that the family economy determined how the parents divided the leave. 5

8 influence couples short-term mothering and fathering practices and how paid and unpaid work is divided. Turning to more long-term consequences of women s and men s parental leave taking for the family, research shows that parental leave length is related to the couples probability of having another child (Duvander and Andersson 2006; Duvander, Lappegård and Andersson 2010; Olah 2003), as well as to fathers remained contact with a child after a divorce (Duvander and Jans 2009; Westphal, Poortman and van der Lippe, 2014). It is often assumed that fathers increased time with the child as an infant furthers his relationship with the child in the short as well as the long run. Worth noting though is that these (potentially closer) relationships may come about due to more child-oriented fathers self-selecting into long parental leaves, or due to more causal processes. Although it is often difficult to disentangle the mechanisms, it is reasonable to assume that the observed correlation is partly due to selectivity and partly due to causality, where fathers who have taken a significant share of the parental leave also feel more comfortable in their relationship with the child/children and in their fathering practices. Earlier research also suggests that there are gender differences in parents activities with children as well as their wellbeing. Fathers more often take on the role of mentor (by helping out with homework) or playmate, roles that mothers also perform in addition to their greater engagement than fathers in more basic care activities (such as cooking, cleaning, etc.) (Statistics Sweden 2003; Musick, Meier and Flood 2014; cf. Zaiceva and Zimmermann 2011). Doing housework is associated with poorer subjective wellbeing than is playing with children (Musick, Meier and Flood 2014). Mothers are also more likely than fathers to do soloparenting, which, together with gender differences in the kind of child care performed, seems to contribute to mothers more frequent experience of stress and fatigue when engaged in activities with children (Ibid.). Most research demonstrates that fathers who have taken parental leave do more of the housework than fathers who have taken less or no parental leave (Almqvist and Duvander 2014; Boye 2008; Haas and Hwang 2008; Kotsadam and Finseraas 2011). A study by Johansson and Duvander (2013), indicates that the use of temporary parental leave to care for a sick child also became slightly more evenly distributed between mothers and fathers after the first daddy month was introduced in Sweden in 1995 (see, 6

9 however, Ekberg, Eriksson and Friebel, 2013, who did not find any effect of either the first or second month on temporary leave uptake). 3 In evaluating the implementation of the daddy quota in Quebec, Patnaik s (2014) study shows that the change in policy was followed by an increase in men s housework and a corresponding decrease in women s housework. Somewhat surprisingly, Patnaik s results suggest that the division of child care actually became more gendered after the policy reform. Consequently, it seems that mothers reduction in housework freed time that they used to increase their time spent on child care. Focusing on Sweden, Almqvist and Duvander (2014) find that couples in which the father took long leave (here, more than two months) are more likely to share the child care as well as the housework more equally than are couples in which the father took shorter or no leave. This is in line with Boye (2008) who finds that fathers who took leave of at least one month increased their housework more than fathers who took shorter or no leave, when the fathers time spent on housework before and after the birth of the child is compared. In addition, in the same study women s increase in housework hours (after the birth of a child compared to before) is much smaller in couples where fathers took at least a month of leave than in couples where men took shorter leave. The latter study is based on data from the early 1990s and 2000 (the Swedish Level of Living Survey) Research questions In this study, we add to earlier research by providing a more updated and thorough analysis of what parents describe as: (i) the reasons for why they have decided to divide the parental leave as they did, (ii) to what extent the provided reason for the leave is related to the mothers and the fathers length of the leave, and (iii) what consequences the division of leave have had for the sharing of child care when both are back at work again. By adding information from qualitative interviews with 20 couples to quantitative analyses of the YAPS (see Data used in the study for details), we try to get a better understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to the potential greater involvement in child care among fathers 3 The basic assumption here is that the share of the temporary leave to care for a sick child can be an indicator of the extent to which household work is being shared equally in the home (cf. Eriksson and Nermo 2010). 7

10 who took fairly long parental leave. These analyses will also explore the extent to which the parental leave has influenced the father s relationship with his child, as indicated by the fathers and mothers reports on child care and father-child relationships. Our mixed methods approach is complementary (cf. Small 2011). When quantitative analyses of large-scale data give us a profound understanding of general patterns and relationships, qualitative analyses of the interview data provide a depth of interpretation and suggestions for possible mechanisms underlying the quantitative findings. Before we turn to a description of the data, we briefly describe the Swedish parental leave insurance The Swedish parental leave insurance The analyses estimated in the empirical part of this study are based on respondents who had their first child in the year 2000 or later. Parents who had their first child in 2000 or 2001 were able to use 450 days of parental leave for each child, of which 30 was reserved for each parent. In 2002, an additional 30 days was reserved for each parent and in total, parents now had the right to 480 days of leave for each child. All but 90 of these days are paid at close to 80 percent of earlier income up to a ceiling. The remaining 90 days are paid at a much lower flat rate (of 180 SEK per day for children born in July 1, 2006 or later, and 60 SEK for children born before this date). In the period from 2000 to 2009, men s share of parental leave (or rather the share of the days for which they use the parental leave insurance) has increased from 12.4 percent to 22.3 percent. In 2013, fathers share of all parental leave days was close to 25 percent. Fathers share of the parental leave days when the child is under two years of age is slightly lower and about 19 percent in 2009 (Duvander and Viklund 2014). In the period studied, the parental leave insurance could be used until the child turned eight years of age Data used in the study The data used in the quantitative part of the study come from the Swedish Young Adult Panel Study (YAPS). This study was initiated in 1999, when a questionnaire was mailed to a nationally representative sample of 3,408 individuals born in 1968, 1972 and 1976 (with a response rate of 67 percent) (Principal Investigator was Eva Bernhardt, Stockholm 4 For those with children born in January 2014 and on, parents have to use 80 percent of the parental leave days before the child turns four years of age. The remaining days can be used until the child turns 12 years of age (National Social Insurance agency, Faktablad Föräldrapenning, 2014). 8

11 University). In 2003, a follow-up was conducted and a new cohort of respondents who were born in 1980 was added. In 2009, the 3,547 respondents who replied to the survey in 1999 and/or 2003 received a second follow-up questionnaire. In total 1,986 (56 percent) of those who received this second follow-up returned a completed questionnaire. Analyses of the drop outs show that highly educated respondents are more likely to have remained in the survey than were others (Wanders 2012). The current analysis uses data from the third (2009) wave of the YAPS and the sample is restricted to those who had their first child in the year 2000 or later. We include survey information from the main respondents spouses in Apart from survey information, register-based information on respondents and spouses educational level is used. 6 A description of the variables used in the multivariate analyses is found in the Appendix. We also analyse qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 40 Swedish first-time parents (20 married or cohabiting couples who were interviewed when the child was approximately 1.5 years of age). Both partners in each couple were employed, most of them in middle-class occupations. Most interviewees were rather well-educated and well-established in the labour market. The interviews are rich in information on the motives behind the couples division of market work, parental leave etc., as well as their experiences with these divisions and with the transition to parenthood. We apply a thematic analysis in which we categorize theoretically derived themes and themes that emerge from the data and analyse their relationships. The analysis is done on an individual- and a couple-level basis. We explore the importance of social norms regarding how long women should stay at home with their babies as well as norms related to new and old fathering practices. We also explore how men, in particular, talk about their relationship to the child and the degree to which this relationship benefits from shared parenting and/or fathers leave taking behaviour. We furthermore explore gender differences in how economic resources, work situation and career opportunities are valued in relation to parental leave. This will inform us about possible mechanisms linking the social context and motherhood and fatherhood norms to the gendered division of work and care for the child. A description of the interviewed couples in terms of age, broad occupation, income etc. before the birth of the child is found in the Appendix (Table A2). Worth noting is that whereas the qualitative interviews focus on first-time parents, the quantitative data also include those with two or more children as the number of cases would be too small, were we 5 In 2009, 69 percent of the respondents had a partner who returned the questionnaire. 6 For more information on the YAPS, see 9

12 to exclude them. We do not consider this to be a big problem as we assume that the mechanisms for dividing the parental leave more or less equally are similar independent of the number of children in the household. 4. Results and findings: Parental leave length, reasons for the division of leave and satisfaction with how the leave was divided Based on survey information from cohorts born in 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980 and their spouses/partners, we started out by estimating how long women and men have taken leave to care for their most recent child. Although we have information on reasons for the leave, perceived experiences of the leave etc. from both the main respondent and the partner, we only have information on the partner s parental leave length from the main respondent. Given that we know that information provided about oneself often is more valid than that of others, we compared estimations of women s and men s average parental leave length based on information provided by the respondent her/himself or the partner. The analyses show that fathers are much worse at estimating the mother s parental leave length than are mothers at estimating the father s parental leave length. For men, the difference in parental leave length is less than one week when we compare women s reports about their partner s leave taking and men s reports about their own leave taking (13.5 weeks compared to 14.2 weeks). The corresponding difference when we compare women s reports about their own leave taking and men s reports about their partner s leave taking is 10 weeks. According to men, the women on average have taken 44 weeks of leave (or 43.7) whereas the information retrieved from women suggests that they have been home for on average 54 weeks (or 53.7). 7 This indicates that both are underestimating the other parent s parental leave and whereas fathers leave length (according to the fathers) is about 5 percent longer than what the mothers report, mothers parental leave length (according to the mothers) is about 25 percent longer than what the fathers report. As a consequence, we do not to use the information from the men when it comes to estimating women s parental leave length but reduce these analyses to women s own reports. For men, we use the information on parental leave length they provide as main respondents as well as the information provided by their partners (when the man is the partner 7 There could of course be actual differences in parental leave length between the two groups of women (i.e. those where the woman is the main respondent and those where the man is the main respondent) but it is highly unlikely that any such difference would be as big as 10 weeks. 10

13 respondent and the woman is the main respondent) in order not to reduce the number of cases in the analyses too much. 8 In the following, we map the link between the different reasons for the leave and the length of the leave for women and men. Figure 1 is based on calculations of estimates presented in Table A4 in the Appendix. For a description of the OLS regression (used to estimate the model), see the Appendix and Hutcheson (2011). The couples who divide the leaves most equally are those in which the respondents claim that the main reason for the leave was that they wanted to share the leave with the other parent and couples in which the man s will to stay home determined how leave was divided (as we do not analyse couples here, the latter is seen by comparing the women s bar for other parent s will to be home with the men s bar for my will to be home in Figure 1). In these couples, men on average were on leave between 19 and 25 weeks and women were on leave for 40 to 46 weeks. Leaves are most unequally divided in couples where the mother wanted to stay home for a long period, where the father did not want to stay at home, where work-related reasons for the father determined the division of leave and in couples where the family economy was the most important reason for the division of leave. In these couples, fathers took between five and nine weeks of leave in total and mothers on average took 54 to 63 weeks of leave. When parents claim that they took the leave the other parent could not use, fathers seem to refer to the two reserved months when they talk about this leave whereas mothers seem to refer to all leave but the two reserved months. Women on average took 76 weeks of leave when they claim that they took the leave the other parent could not use. Another interesting finding is also how work-related reasons seem to have very different implications for women s and men s leave length. When men claim that work-related reasons determined their leave, they on average took seven weeks of leave, whereas women on average took 51 weeks, a leave only three weeks shorter than the average leave of 54 weeks (see above). This verifies the conclusions from earlier research (e.g. Socialförsäkringsboken 2003), indicating that the father s work conditions are more important for his leave length than the mother s work conditions is for her leave length. 8 In order to check if this was a wise decision, we have estimated the below models for Figure 1 based only on men as the main respondent and although relationships weaken and turn insignificant in some cases (probably due to the reduction of the number of cases included), these analyses do not change any of the main conclusions (see Table A3 in the Appendix). The adjusted R 2 is also improved in the model based on the women main respondents only whereas the opposite is true for men; when we include the men who answered the partner questionnaire in the model (for which we have information about their parental leave length from the woman), the adjusted R 2 increased from to

14 Figure 1. Average parental leave length in weeks for women and men by main reason for the leave (recalculated from the logarithmic value of leave length in weeks, Table A4 in the Appendix) Men=444 Women=404 Next, we study how happy women and men are with the division of the leave. Focusing on the main respondents only, Table 1 shows that it is fairly common that fathers say that they regret that they did not stay home longer (and that the other parent did not stay home shorter). More exactly, 28 percent of the fathers would have liked to stay home longer, seen in retrospect, whereas 14 percent of the women say that they regret that they did not stay home shorter and the other parent longer seen in retrospect. Still, the vast majority of the couples claim that they are happy with the way in which they divided the leave (this goes for 70 percent of the fathers and 84 percent of the mothers). When we compare the average parental leave length for men who say that they should have stayed home longer with the length for men who are happy with the division of leave, men in the dissatisfied group on average stayed home for 10 weeks compared to men in the satisfied group who on average were on parental leave for 16 weeks. 9 When it comes to women, those who say that they should have stayed home shorter and the partner longer, on average stayed home for 63 weeks compared to the 9 Note that this is not controlling for the reasons for the leave and the averages therefore are not comparable to those in Figure 1. 12

15 satisfied group who on average stayed home for 56 weeks. 10 In separate analyses, we studied parents accounts of what they felt were the greatest benefits from taking leave. In almost all cases, mothers as well as fathers reported that they felt they got a closer relationship with the child after parental leave. This answer came up as one of the benefits of the leave, independent of the length of the leave. Hence, it seems to be a normative or socially desirable answer to the extent that even men who took comparatively short leave claimed that the leave improved their relationship with the child. Table 1. Satisfaction with the division of leave, men and women. I should have stayed home longer and the other parent shorter I should have stayed home shorter and the other parent longer Yes, I m happy with the division of leave Men Women 28% 2% 1% 14% 70% 84% Total N Parental leave length and the division of child care In the next step, we turn to the parents division of care for the child. We explore if it is common that fathers who stay home longer with the child on parental leave also do a greater share of the child care when both are back at work again. We focus on who most often stays at home when the child is sick, who puts the child to sleep, who buys clothes for the child and who stays in contact with pre-schools and schools. Based on estimations of OLS regression models of the degree to which the child care is equally divided between the spouses (see the description of methods and variables in the Appendix and Evertsson, 2014), we find that the father s parental leave length is significantly and positively related to his share of the child care (Appendix, Table A5). Results also indicate that the longer the mother has been home on parental leave, the less gender equal is the division of child care. The latter link is, however, much weaker than the link between fathers parental leave length and the division of child care (and only significant at the 10 percent level). Without going into too much detail of the statistical model and estimates, 10 Worth noting is that even 56 weeks may seem like a fairly long parental leave and although some outliers may pull up the estimate, the results vary little if we focus on the median, rather than the average of the parental leave. 13

16 results indicate that fathers do more of the child care the higher the woman s income and the longer her paid work hours. The woman s work hours are the most important here, partly because high-income women (and men) often work long hours. Assuming that the reason for the leave may be related to the division of child care, we included indicators of the reasons in various exploratory models. In the end, it seems that the most important reason is the woman s will to be home. When the woman wanted to be home for a long period, the division of child care tends to be more traditional (also) later on as mothers in these couples often do a greater share of the child care. Taking into account that differences in the woman s and the man s education, income, work hours, as well as the number of children they have, may influence the division of child care, the analyses show that net of this the father s parental leave length is important for how child care is divided when neither the mother nor the father is on parental leave anymore. In other words, the longer the father has been on parental leave, the more likely it is that the child care is equally divided or that the father does more of the child care than the mother does. One reason for this finding may be that more child-oriented fathers take long leaves as well as perform more of the child care. It could also partly be due to more causal mechanisms where the father feels closer to the child and more inclined to be with the child and do child care, the longer he has been on parental leave and the more he has learned from this experience. In exploratory analyses, we studied the fathers as well as the mothers satisfaction with the child care at the time of the interview. We expected to find differences in their satisfaction with the child care that are related to the length of the parental leave (given that child care on average is more equally divided when fathers have taken longer rather than shorter leave). Focusing on fathers, there seems to be very little variation in the extent to which they are happy/unhappy with the division of child care and it is not related to their or their partners parental leave length. However, for mothers, the probability that they are happy with the division of child care is greater the longer the father has been on parental leave (the Appendix, Table A6). Interestingly enough, women are also happier with the division of child care, the longer their paid work hours are. When mothers work long hours, fathers do more of the child care (cf. Table A5 in the Appendix). It seems that being relieved of some of the child care and the presumed double burden that has been common among working mothers, mothers who work full-time are more satisfied with the division of child care than are mothers who work part-time. Also here, selection may play a role if unhappy mothers self-select out of full-time work (still if they do, working part-time does not seem to make them happier). The father s 14

17 paid work hours are not related to the woman s satisfaction with the division of child care presumably because fathers work hours vary fairly little. 11 Related to this, one can assume that fathers who have taken comparatively long parental leave and who do more of the child care (than other men) may be more likely to change or adjust their work hours or working conditions to reflect their greater involvement in child care and the child. We therefore studied how fathers respond to a question on whether they have adjusted their work situation since they became parents. Results suggests that men are less likely to say that nothing has changed (and that they work pretty much as before), the longer their parental leave length has been (controlling for the number of children in the household and the educational level of the mother and father) (not shown). This is to some extent in line with results found for Canada where fathers who were exposed to changing policies (and increasing paternity leave rights) were more likely to reduce their paid work hours than were other fathers (Patnaik, 2014). In sum, the results from the quantitative analyses indicate that fathers who took long leave may either be more family oriented to start with or they become increasingly more family and child care oriented the longer they stay home on parental leave. As the below analyses show, part of this seems to be spurred by small children s preferences for the parent(s) to which they for the moment feel the closest. In the following, we present qualitative analyses of interviews with couples who recently became parents in order to get a better understanding of some of the mechanisms at work here Couples who feel that equal sharing is important make it happen In the quantitative analyses above, couples whose primary intention was to share the leave were among those who also were able to divide the leave the most equally. Some of the interviewed first-time parents explicitly related their possibilities to follow their ideals to the institutional context and particularly the parental leave system and the availability of public 11 In Table A6, we estimate an OLS model in addition to the logistic regression models (where the indicator in the latter is a dummy for high satisfaction with the division of child care). As the dependent variable is highly skewed women on average score 4.5 on a scale from 1 to 5 when it comes to satisfaction with the division of child care this model should only be seen as a robustness check. By and large, the results in the OLS model confirm the results from the logistic regression model. Worth noting is that any reference categories now are set to 0 (instead of 1 as for the logistic regression model) and the coefficients are not interpreted in the same way in the OLS model as in the logistic regression model (for details, see the description of the methods in the Appendix). 15

18 childcare (when the parental leave period is exhausted). From the interviews, we get a better understanding of factors that may motivate couples to share. For some of the interviewed couples, sharing parental leave more or less equally was the obvious thing to do. This was their starting point and if there were no severe obstacles in terms of, for example, economic or work-related difficulties, this was what they aimed for. Linda used the term natural to describe an equal division of the leave: it is natural to share. Not only the fun parts, but also the hard parts. [det är naturligt att man delar på det. Inte bara det som är roligt, utan även det som är jobbigt.] This illustrates that fairness was one reason to share. For Sara and Simon, the main reason to share was simply that both parents wanted to be at home with the child. When they discussed parental leave, Sara said, they did not have to decide to share equally, they only decided how long the child should be at home in total and when they should make the switch between them. Simon explained that he and Sara wanted to share the experiences of the first year with the baby, and that it also seemed fair to share: Yes... I mean... I would say that it was some kind of idea that we should have an equal share of the first period really. Because you... experience a great deal when you are at home with him [the child] during the day like that. You follow the development constantly in a different way than perhaps if you see him on evenings and weekends. So it was like And then it was... No, but it seemed natural also to share it, like fair during the day too. (Simon) [Ja alltså det Jag skulle nog ändå vilja säga att det var nån slags tanke om att man ska ha lika stor del i den första tiden egentligen. För att det är ju ganska mycket man får vara med om när man är hemma med honom om dagarna så där. Man följer ju utvecklingen hela tiden på ett lite annorlunda sätt kanske än om man ser honom på kvällar och helger. Så det var liksom. Och sen var det väl Nej men det kändes naturligt också att dela på det, liksom rättvist på dagarna också så där. (Simon)] In addition, Simon said that they decided early on to share, but that a provocative comment from a midwife about parents tendencies to talk about gender equality without realizing it in practice made them even more determined. A wish to practice gender equality was hence an additional reason for them to share. The timing of the leave in terms of who stays at home first was, however, not questioned by this and other couples. To Simon, it is natural that the mother stays at home first. This meant that Sara started and stayed at home full-time for 10 months, after which Simon stayed at home full-time for an additional 10 months. Others elaborated more on their reasons to share, one reason being the father s right to spend time with his child and another being to further a close relationship between the father and child. One couple who discussed this was Lena and Carlos. They had been at home together full-time with the child for several months, first for two months after the child was born, and 16

19 then again for three months before Carlos went on full-time parental leave. Carlos was on full-time parental leave by himself for five months and then on part-time leave for an additional two months. 12 Lena and Carlos had discussed parenthood and their wishes regarding parental leave a long time before they expected their child. When Lena became pregnant, they both knew that they wanted to share parental leave and be home a great deal together and they had saved money and vacation time to make this possible. To Carlos, it was important to be home by himself when the child was still less than one year old. He wanted the closeness connected with caring for a child that cannot yet walk and was convinced that if you build that psychological and physical closeness when the child is small, the child s teenage years will become much easier. Consequently, Carlos expressed a conviction that fathers parental leave taking and time spent with the child when it is very small fosters a long-term and closer relationship between the father and child. According to Carlos, fathers who did not spend time with their small children might have difficulties expressing close feelings towards the child later on, which contributes to a distance between father and child: Carlos: Yes. A closeness, exactly. So that maybe in the future if you are having a hard time, you can hug each other. /... / So I'm a very independent person but when I've had a hard time I have got a hug from dad. Interviewer: Mm. And that has meant something? Carlos: Yes. While I see friends who never get a hug. /... / It's like... There s Daddy'. But they are good dads! It has nothing... But it's some kind of... Interviewer: Some kind of distance in some way anyway? Carlos: Yes. [Carlos: Ja. En närhet, precis. Så att det är väl nog kanske i framtiden om det är jobbigt så kan man kramas. / / Alltså jag är en väldigt självständig person men när jag har haft det jobbigt så har jag fått en kram av pappa. Intervjuaren: Mm. Och det har betytt nånting? Carlos: Ja. Medan jag ser kompisar som aldrig får nån kram. / / Det är såhär... Där är pappa, alltså. Fast det är bra pappor! Det har ingenting Men det är nån sorts... Intervjuaren: Nån slags avstånd på nåt sätt ändå? Carlos: Ja.] Carlos believed that if men can show perhaps in particular their sons that it is OK to be a hugging, comforting father, then the children will be more able to show feelings themselves 12 Lena was on full-time leave by herself during four months after the two first shared months. Their original plan was that Carlos would be on leave full-time during seven months, but then they got a place in daycare earlier than planned that they did not want to lose. The child therefore went to daycare a few hours a week during the last two months of Carlos leave, and he worked during these hours. 17

20 as adults. Not having to be self-sufficient and strong all the time will make it easier for them to deal with difficulties and to consult their father (and others in their close network) in stressful periods, according to Carlos Traditional gender norms increase the difference in women s and men s parental leave length Traditional views on fatherhood and motherhood appear to be one reason why some couples choose to let the mother be on parental leave longer than the father, even while stressing the importance of the father s engagement. More specifically, these couples expressed the view that the mother should stay at home full-time during the first year. This may be one mechanism behind the quantitative finding that the mother s wishes regarding her parental leave length are associated with a shorter leave length among fathers, whereas no association is found between the father s wishes (regarding his parental leave length) and the length of the mother s leave. To Elin, for example, it was important that both she and her partner Dan stayed at home with the child and that they divided it rather equally [ att vi skulle dela upp det ganska jämnt ]. This meant that Elin stayed at home for 11 months and Dan for six months. 13 They based this decision partly on tradition: But then I think that we were like, no, but the mother is at home about a year, that s how it usually is... I think. No I don t know really... (Elin) [Men sen tror jag nog att vi var väl så här, nej men mamman är hemma ett år ungefär, det brukar vara så tror jag. Nej jag vet inte egentligen (Elin)] Elin seems to be referring to what she has interpreted as a norm in her statement when she says that it is usually the case that the mother is home for a year. Norms can work as a way to justify a more traditional division of leave and according to Dan, the length of his leave was restricted by Elin s wish to stay at home during the first year. After a year, he said, she felt that she could hand over the responsibility to him. Consequently, Elin seems to see herself as the primary and most important caretaker of the child (cf. debates and theories on intense mothering, e.g. Hays 1996). Furthermore, the couple wanted to save parental leave days for later (to be used when the day care centre was closed and to prolong holidays), and this also influenced how long Dan could be on full-time leave with the small child. Elin would have 13 This is according to Elin. According to Dan, Elin was at home for a year and he was at home for 5 months. The one month difference between their stated leave lengths may be caused by different interpretations of the summer months between their leaves, when they stayed at home together. 18

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